Mysteriously Obvious
by LeanMeanGreen
Summary: [AU] Salamander is online. Keys is online. – ::nalu, t for swearing::
1. Keys

_Salamander is now online._

_Keys is now online._

**_A/N:_**Anonymous AU! This is based on the HTTYD Fic called 'Anonymous' by doofusface, and I'm just following the whole Anonymous thing concept, but not the storyline.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Fairy Tail. But one can dream.

* * *

><p>He's a hot-headed stubborn little asshole, who is high in the ranks of the social hierarchy, yet can barely keep a proper friend. She's a dreaming bookworm, whose head is up in space, along with her friends. Perfect match, right?<p>

{…}

Natsu circled around in his desktop chair, using his foot to spin himself around faster, and faster. He started to become dizzy, but it was better than boredom, which he came to the conclusion of many hours ago. Of course he had stuff to do, but homework and chores? Nah. Who was he kidding? He never did it. He just got that girl – what was her name? Started with L? He doesn't care. If that girl got his homework done, that would be enough. Natsu snorted and disappointingly discontinued his thrilling saga of spinning around on his chair. Much the to sad, sad silent screams of otherwise by his screaming fans, which were him and his cat. He slipped his hand into the packet of chips, which were placed on his desk, next to his computer, but then coming to the realisation there was nothing left in the packet since… hours ago. He threw the chip bag at the wall (with which the tiny crumbs fell out of the packet, falling onto the carpeted floor) and hopped onto his computer.

_C'mon. There's gotta be something better than this._ Natsu's mind flashed back to the school bulletin board, which he was scanning, trying to get away from a girl that was desperately trying to get his attention, despite his obvious lack of interest. He would've talked to the girl, but all they want to do is become popular, it seemed. He had given girls a lot of chances.

_Anonymous… make friends… _Those were the words he had caught on the board, and although he hadn't considered it yesterday, he was really considering it now. He didn't have very many people to talk to, his father always on business (his cat can't talk, but he's working on it), it seemed like he was dead. Well, his dad, of course. Not himself. But he was slowly but steadily reaching that point. The came the fact that he couldn't keep a friend, mostly because he became annoyed to easily and either stayed indifferent to them, or picked a fight with them every chance he got. He didn't even know why he was so popular. Although, it was probably because of his dad…

As he wondered in thought, the other part of his brain was working at the computer, typing in the school's website and heading onto the link of where they introduced the Anonymous website. He clicked on it, cracked his knuckles, and put on a fierce face. He was bored, he was friendless, and he was going to sign up for this website.

{…}

"Well, this was a hopeless fucking case," Natsu murmured to himself. After about five (or maybe like, thirty) minutes of waiting for someone to join him on the chat, it was done. No one decided to come in. Just as he was about to click the exit tab, a name popped up in the chat. '_Keys is now online_', it said. Natsu snickered to himself, "what a fucking cliché." Coming on right when he was going to leave.

{…}

_Salamander is now online._

**Salamander: **hey! the all mighty Salamander is here!

**Salamander: **nobody? i made this thing for nothing? im leaving

_Keys is now online._

**Keys: **Good to see you're still here, Salamander.

**Salamander: **why are you even here, im meant to be alone

**Keys: **My Dad told me to come on. Why are /you/ here?

**Salamander: **bc im bored

**Keys: **You're a dork.

**Salamander: **idc man

**Salamander: **why did your old man send you here

**Keys: **Why should I tell you? For all you know you could be a creep.

**Salamander: **im obvs not i mean this website thing was made by our school

**Keys: **But still, this thing can still be accessed from the internet…

**Salamander: **i was here for a hour and nobody came on

**Keys: **You were /not/ here for an hour.

**Salamander: **true though

**Salamander: **also! u didnt argue that our school made this

**Salamander: **so youre in my school bc you agreed that this thing was made by the school so yeah your good grammar and shit cant trick me

**Keys: **I can't even comprehend what you just figured out there, but it kind of makes sense.

**Salamander: **yes

**Keys: **Yes?

**Salamander: **yes.

**Salamander: **so why did ypur old man send u here

**Keys: **Whoops! My 'old man' is calling me! See you in a bit, Salamander!

_Salamander is typing…_

_Keys is now offline._

**Salamander: ** so damn close

{…}

Natsu gave a half-hearted laugh. This was the longest conversation that he had with a person… for a while, actually. And the conversation wasn't even that long. But Natsu felt elated. He wanted to talk more, to feel the rush of excitedly chatting with someone. It wasn't the same as the rush of getting to punch someone in the face.

After about ten minutes of fruitless waiting, another system-generated message appeared on the screen. The salmon-colour of his hair became an excited blur as he rushed towards his computer. He didn't even know what he was so excited. Perhaps it was the finding of light in the pit of boredom he was in. Yeah, it was probably that. Natsu was about to type in a snarky message, bugging her about the dad thing, that he was so unexpectedly hell bent on finding, when a message popped up before his fingers got to touch the keyboard.

{…}

_Keys is now online._

**Keys: **Salamander…? Hey, did you wait for me? :P

**Salamander: **well you came back for me

**Keys: **Don't avoid my question, Sally!

**Salamander: **sally? youre not serious

**Keys: **Very serious.

**Salamander: **and im the one thats a dork

**Keys: **Stop avoiding my question!

**Salamander: **dont avoid mine then

**Keys: **Eh?

**Salamander: **your old man? ring a bell?

**Keys: **Maybe later.

_Salamander is typing…_

**Keys: **It's like, 10:00PM, and my dad is going to kill me if I stay up any longer.

**Salamander: **your dad is a weak little soul

**Keys: **Says you.

**Salamander: **you dont know my story

**Salamander: **actually, you dont know me at all

**Salamander: **am i a guy? am i a girl? youll never know

**Keys: **Never? Tell me if I'm right: you're guy.

**Salamander: **…

**Salamander: **youre a guy too?

_Keys is typing…_

**Salamander: **dont you DARE leave me hanging!

_Keys is typing..._

**Keys: **WRONG. GIRL. Haha! Goodbye.

**Salamander: **exchange phone numbers?

**Keys: **That's what a creep would say.

**Salamander: **:c

**Keys: **Nope. I'll be on tomorrow afternoon, though.

**Salamander: **bye, if it is fate, we will meet again

**Keys: **Dork.

_Keys is now offline_.

{…}

The male sighed. He knew he had to log off, but he had that feeling that Keys would just want to come back. Of course she didn't. Moving his tired limbs, he stood up from his desk chair a stretched, giving a loud yawn as he heard the cracking of his bones. He leant over and placed his hand on the mouse and closed the browser, grinning at their conversation. It was nice, to get to talk to someone who listened again. And to someone that he didn't get tired of, and someone that didn't get tired of himself. They only talk for about twenty minutes (including the intervals between them), but Natsu felt like he was getting a friendship. A proper one.

Natsu placed his right hand under his shirt as he scratched his stomach before flopping onto the edge of his bed, startling his exceed, a blue cat named Happy. Happy had been calmly sleeping on Natsu's bed, and Natsu's sudden weight caused the poor cat to jump a little bit, until he crashed into the male's side. Happy scowled at Natsu and hopped down from the bed, of which salmon-haired male just responded to with a loud laugh.

"Your loss," he scoffed and curled up on top of his bed. He didn't throw on the duvet on like a regular person would, he felt too hot for it. While his tired eyes punched his brain into making him fall asleep, his brain was tough and pushed through the punching, keeping him awake with the possibilities of Keys and his conversations tomorrow. He just got giddy at the thought of it. It was childish, he knew, but it was so important to him and he didn't even know why.

Eventually, the brain started to wear out and collapsed, along with his thoughts, and as soon as the revolution of his tired eyes finished, his eyes clamped shut.

{…}

Like all things, Natsu had to eventually wake up, although he had only felt that he had been sleeping for two seconds. 5 hours of sleep. That should seem enough, but not the case. He heard of people that had a rare disease of which they only needed 4 hours of sleep to get by. He envied those people. The male swung his legs of his bed and practically rolled out of bed, a deep groan gurgling in his throat. _Just get through the day, _the male half-shouted (it was more of a loud groan) at himself, one hand sliding through his hair and the other massaging the bridge of his nose.

"Coffee, coffee," He told himself out loud, his feet leading him out of his bedroom and down the stairs, through the carpeted hallway and eventually into the kitchen. He made himself a coffee, black, as he liked the strong and bitter flavour of it. It reminded him of his father, strong and bitter but keeps you awake and helps you through the day. Natsu flexed arm and realised his muscles could probably never reach his dad's. He didn't even know where his dad got the time to work out that much.

Once the coffee coaxed his brain awake and (for the period of time it would allow, of course) repaired all its wounds, Natsu scrambled upstairs and threw on something at least a little bit presentable, chewing on some toast bread as he filled Happy's bowl with some food for him to eat. He stroked the feline's spine as Happy – no pun intended – happily munched on his favourite meal, which was fish. Always fish. Sometimes the necessary water, but Mavis above, did this cat feed on fish.

Finding spare time before it would be necessary to leave for school, the teenager comfortably slid onto his desktop chair, turning on his computer. It obeyed his commands fast and before he realised what he was doing, he was on the school website, opening up the anonymous website he was on before. He didn't really know what he was expecting to find, but he wasn't expecting a message sent from Keys, the first sent at 1:48 AM.

{…}

_Keys is now online._

**Keys: **Salamander? You still on?

**Keys: **…of course not.

**Keys: **Well, when you read this tomorrow and wonder why in the world there's a message from me at 1:48 AM, I'll just say that I couldn't sleep. I assume you go to _Fairy Tail Academy_, yes? Oh, please don't be a creeper.

**Keys: **The reason my 'old man' sent me here is because I have a hard time making friends. I have a lot of imaginary friends – please don't say it's odd, I already know and I don't need _more _people reminding me – and so basically every afternoon I have to tell my father what I did after school, what's new and what I passed and/or failed in. He can tell when I'm lying. My father is keen-eyed man, probably because of his profession. So I told him about the anonymous thing on the bulletin board and he demanded find someone on there. He was pretty rough about it, but I think he just wants for me to have a friend.

**Keys: **Okay. Bye.

_Keys is now offline_.

_Salamander is now online._

{…}

Natsu didn't hesitate. He furiously pushed the keys he wanted to type and his sentence began to form. He didn't care if Keys was a creeper, he could handle someone like that. He wanted for Keys to have a friend. Someone real. He knew what it was like to be judged for not having someone. He was popular but unconnected, and here he had a chance at making a friend. Possibly a real one. So he didn't hesitate.

{…}

_Salamander is typing…_

**Salamander: **XXX-XXX-XXX

**Salamander: **thats my phone number

**Salamander: **and let your father know that you have a friend

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><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>_Fanfiction_? But LMG, I thought you were dead! I really want this to be a multi-chapter fic, but I wanted 'I'm sorry, Lucy' to be one too, so... I've lost motivation for I'm sorry, Lucy. Angst... I just can't seem to write it any more. But.. I'll get there, eventually. I would ask you to Rate and Review, but all I really want is constructive criticism, and motivation. Oh boy, you guys _**do not**_know how much motivation I get from reviews.

**Live life, friend!**


	2. The Realisation of Becoming Bored

**Chapter Note: **I'm just trying to develop their relationship at the moment. They're both really socially awkward and I'm trying to make them comfortable with each other, but not, like, too comfortable... .-.

**A/N: **I have, like a vague idea on what I'm gonna do for the story. Enjoy it. I worked on it real quick. You proud? It's been, like 3-4 days since I uploaded the last chapter. Oh god. It's 1am lord help me. i cant even anymore. grammar? nah. i, like, half-spell checked this so sorry for mistakes

* * *

><p>Natsu felt content with what he had done. If Keys' dad wanted her to get a friend, she got one. He was just hoping that she would at least try the phone number. He closed the browser and shut off his computer, sliding off his desktop chair before leaning down and stroking Happy's blue fur. Natsu smiled contently and leaned in towards the cat, "Keep the house safe. We don't want any criminals getting in, it was hard enough to get dad to leave me alone without anyone looking after me…"<p>

He grabbed his phone which was placed on his bed and plugged in the headphones, which were conveniently placed next to it. What came next was just second nature, his mind dropping into the routine of making sure nothing was forgotten, filling up Happy's bowl so he wouldn't get hungry during the day, playing some punk rock from his phone to his headphones. He took another sip of his coffee, which he left on the kitchen counter, and headed off to school. He hadn't learnt how to drive yet, his dad gave him a lesson once but his motion sickness prevented him from even being able to get a hold of the wheel.

A bike was out of the picture, his aforementioned motion sickness, so he just jogged to school every day. It was great exercise for him, he wanted to keep fit. Just like his father had said, every single time before he had left. 'Keep fit, Natsu. Stay safe, Natsu. Don't have any parties, Natsu. I'll be back in six months, Natsu.'

The male exited the house, adjusting the tongue of his sports shoes, which were keeping together only because of tape the male had the liberty of deciding to out on. He locked the door, unlocked it, and then locked it again, just to make sure. It was habit.

_Ha. Six months_. Natsu scoffed, his thoughts still wondering around his father, while still keeping his breathing steady as he resisted the urge to dance to the tune of his music, pumping through his headphones. However, the urge was cut short when a buzz came from his back pocket, signalling he had gotten a text message. He never got text messages. Only from his dad, and the other from Gray, when he wanted to pull a prank on somebody with him. Natsu slowed his jogging until he eventually reached a slow, walking pace, making sure to slowly breathe in large quantities of air. He glanced down at his phone. And smiled.

{…}

_You have received one new text message from XXX-XXX-XXX._

XXX-XXX-XXX: _Hey, Salamander? You gave me your phone number?_

You: _pfft wow i wasnt expecting you to actually send me something_

_XXX-XXX-XXX is typing…_

XXX-XXX-XXX: _Is this actually you though?_

You: _yeah_

XXX-XXX-XXX: _Hm… not exactly sure about this, buuut I'll go along with it._

You: _one sec going to change your name to your pen name because seeing XXX-XXX-XXX is getting annoying_

_Keys is typing…_

You: _ah. better._

Keys: _Sorry. At school. Text you during lunch. Sixth period?_

You: _yeah_

You: _lets sit at table 3?_

Keys: _No…_

You: _huh_

You: _i thought you liked me :c_

Keys: _Well… you could still be a creep._

You: _havent i made it clear that im not_

Keys: _No, not really._

You: _grr_

Keys: _I just want to keep our IDs secret, alright? It could be like… I guessing game._

You: _so.. we bet?_

Keys: _Basically. So, if I win, you have to get me a super-cool present. Vice versa._

You: _hm_

Keys: _What? You chicken?_

You: _no! fine, its on. text you at lunch._

Keys: Bye, dork.

You: _bye, my love_

Keys: [heart]

You: [heart]

{…}

Natsu slipped his phone into his back pocket and resumed his music. He started straight away on guessing who keys was, so it wasn't a guy, and he didn't know very many girls, so he was at a disadvantage. He knew straight away that this wasn't a popular person he was speaking to, way too nice. So Natsu ticked off all his answers but still couldn't come up with anything. He sighed. It definitely wasn't Erza… Juvia, Evergreen… nope, nope. The male slid his hand through his hair and suddenly felt a breeze on his neck. It was cold, chilling, and sent a nasty shiver running up his spine. He grasped at his neck and realised he had left the scarf at home, forgetting to put it on as he woke up in the morning. He always hung it at the hook of his bedroom door.

The only probable explanation for his missing of the scarf is that it slipped off the hook while he was sleeping, probably taken down by his blue-haired exceed. Natsu groaned out loud, it was like a roar, startling nearby strangers. He knew he were to be late for school if he were to go back and get the scarf. But Natsu needed it…

{…}

Natsu busted into his classroom, the door flinging dramatically open as he stomped into the classroom. He quietly excused himself to the shouting teacher, which he didn't catch to look of but it was probably best that he didn't see his/hers expression. He didn't have time to get to his locker so he asked the guy next to him for a pen and a piece of paper, which he – unsurprisingly – obliged to. Natsu thanked him with an appreciative nod and the man smiled. The salmon-haired male didn't really want to talk any further, but the male next to him took his nod as a sign of friendship and contentment. The indifferent male didn't want to be rude, but he really just wasn't in the mood.

He had to study. He knew that if he failed any of his classes, his dad would be real disappointed. He knew that having a disappointed dad wasn't the worst thing in the world, but it made him feel horrible. He knew he had to look after his father. He knew that the only reason he was overworking himself is not because he loved work or wanted to away from his son, it was because he was distraught about his wife's death and could not find closure. So he locked himself away in his work.

So Natsu pretended to listen, but his patience could only hold so far. He slammed his fist on his desk and turned around to the boy, the salmon-haired males face contorting in anger. One part of his brain tried to calm himself down, to not think impulsively, to try and think out his words before he spoke them, but the other was too strong with this part of Natsu and the male lost it his temper. And it was funny, because it wasn't that big of a deal.

"Shut the hell up! I don't give a shit! Can't you see I'm bored with your story? Shut your mouth or I'll do it myself." Natsu fumed and gave a low growl. The male sunk back into his seat, his face offering the emotions of shock and worry. Once the chattering male ceased his talking, Natsu instantly cooled down, sucking in large amounts of air through his teeth. He did this over and over again until the teacher decided to take action against his outburst.

"_Natsu!_" The male rolled his eyes. This was annoying, he had come to the conclusion of. No one seemed to notice whenever he was tired of dealing with… well, _people_. But the teacher continued. And the male continued to ignore, like life was.

"You see me in my office after class."

"Fine."

"Are you sassing me?"

"No."

"Would you like a detention?"

"No, thanks." Natsu yawned and continued to sketch into his notepad. The teacher decided to leave him alone and thanked Mavis above that the uptight adult decided to leave him alone. He didn't know it was possible to become more bored and disinterested than before. But he blindly took down notes, wondering what his dad would say if he really did manage to get a detention. Probably the usual, like, 'I'm disappointed', and whatnot. The scarf-wearing male yawned and rubbed his tired eyes. He needed something to keep him awake.

{…}

His phone buzzed, right after the bell ending third period. A smile appeared over his down features and the only thought he could think of was that something was perking up in the boring school life of his. He had tried to keep a conversation with Loke, the captain of the track team and one of the only guys he could truly tolerate. He hit on girls a lot, yes, and he didn't like that part of him, yes, but he kept his own and he could always tolerate him whenever they discussed things. He was caring in his own way.

Natsu reached into his front pocket (he had moved the phone from the back to the front, with the fear of crushing the device) and clicked it on. He hastily typed in the password and opening up the message area, reading Keys' text over and over and over again. He had no idea why. He just wanted to. It was the only logical explanation his brain could make at the time.

{…}

_1 New Message from Keys._

Keys: _Ayyy._

_You are typing…_

You: _hey dork_

Keys: _That's my line!_

You: _bleh_

Keys: _I have a question._

You: _so speak up_

Keys: _Are you a popular or an unpopular?_

You: _im… hey, thatll kind of reveal my identity_

Keys: _Well, not all of it._

You: _not going to give you a chance to win_

Keys: _How disappointing._

You: _harhar_

Keys: _Also, what's with you and not using any… proper grammar?_

You: _not necessary_

Keys: _Why?_

You: _ive never trusted autocorrect and im not going to start now_

Keys: _Oh._

You: _what class you in? it wont do any harm to tell me_

Keys: _I had art last period, I think, with Monsieur Reedus. _

You: _haah… interesting…_

Keys: _You had art too?_

You: _no_

Keys: _You totally did._

You: _did not_

Keys: _Did too._

You: _did not_

Keys: _Did too_.

You: _did. not._

Keys: _You're such a child._

You: _you can talk_

Keys: _What are we even talking for?_

You: _idk man you texted me so i texted you_

Keys: _sigh_

{…}

Natsu paused. He was still planted outside his classroom door, of which his feet surprisingly didn't lead him away from. He usually relied on his instincts whenever he lost interest with whatever was doing with at the time, or he was _too _interested with what he was doing at the time. He was so forgetful sometimes eating and doing other necessary things – like feeding Happy, but thankfully Happy could handle himself and sometimes opened the fridge to get his food whenever Natsu had entered one of his states of mind, where he wasn't very aware of what he was doing anymore.

The male had no idea on how to continue the conversation between Keys and himself, with the struggle of not having much experience talking with people… in general. His father, Gray and Loke, are the only three people off the top of his head has Natsu been able to keep more than a five-minute conversation with, and even that was a bit of a stretch.

Natsu knew deep inside that he was capable of making friends, and that he _was not _a lost cause in the managing-to-hold-a-conversation department. He had heard stories from his father that he used to be the brightest boy, he would greet anyone who came up to himself and not want to leave anyone out. Unlike other kids, his bedroom was not full of toys or video games, but full of keep sakes throughout the years. The first tooth he had lost, that time his father won him a dragon plush of the carnival at the port, seashells from the beach where his father and mother got married. It went on and on and on.

So when he asked his father when he lost interest in well, a lot of things, his father simply shrugged. He said remembered Natsu coming up to him and telling him that his room looked too messy, and he didn't know the point anymore of having test results from over his school years hanging up on his wall. His father had said he seemed to just… become tired.

And so here he was, unable to figure out how to continue the conversation, and steadily becoming tired. His phone buzzed again and Natsu blinked, looking down at the device. He read the message over and over again, because he felt like he needed to, while also helping himself snap out of his trance-like state.

{…}

_1 New Message from Keys._

Keys: _You okay? I'm sorry if I like, did anything._

You: _no, its cool i just got interrupted_

_Keys is typing…_

Keys: _If you want, we'll talk after school…_

You: _no its ok I swear_

Keys: _So, any guesses to who I am, yet?_

You: _yes, actually_

Keys: _Alright, come at me._

You: _…_

You: _that was sort of like a trick answer sort of thing_

You: _i was hoping you would go, 'oh? so you guessed im _'_

Keys: _…you're an idiot…_

You: _ouch_

Keys: _[heart]_

You: _:c_

Keys: _I have a heart of ice._

You: _i'd like to see it compared to mine_

Keys: _Ew, are you asking me to see you heart?_

_You are typing…_

Keys: _What do you want me to do, rip it out of your chest?_

You: _was not expecting that_

Keys: _I'm capable of ripping someone's heart out. I'm like, the best at ripping people's hearts out._

You: _you clearly havent met the school's president_

Keys: _Erza Scarlet? We've met._

You: _hm.. so you're not ezra?_

You: _actually, what am i saying, you're like, way too weird to be erza_

Keys: _Hey! Right here!_

You: _[heart]_

Keys: _Dork._

You: _Weirdo._

Keys: _:(_

You: c:

* * *

><p>Just, sorry if its not in good quality, guys. just tell me if theyre ooc and stuff. thanks for all the reviews, views and follows. motivation. and stuff. also, i kind of want to make natsu emotionally unstable. yes. that will do good.<p>

ignore me pls i should not be awake at this time


	3. I Solemnly Swear

**hello friend**

**this hasnt been spell-checked. well it has but half-heartedly ofc. its been like a week? since i last uploaded? okay good. hopefully it hasnt been much longer than that. enjoy with one! it's not so much fillerish, but it depends on how you look at it. this will hopefully be a long-running type of thing. **

* * *

><p>Natsu had begun to warm up to Keys more than he had initially had expected to, finding himself messaging her more times than he needed, or at least what was considered the norm by social standards, but it wasn't like he was ever part of the social norm anyway.<p>

The male had been sitting at his desk where he had received another text from Keys. Their schedules weren't the same, and sometimes her classes finished earlier than his own or she would have free period when he did not. This, in a sense, wasn't much of a problem at all. Natsu just didn't want his phone to be taken away from him. His phone was precious, you see. There was always the implication that he could just talk to her at home, on his site, but his impatient attitude always ended up in him giving his phone up until the end of the day. It was annoying, as it was.

Natsu had also noticed that people tended to greet him more often, probably now because he wore a smile more often than naught and his outbursts of rage were being steadily put to sleep and locked away in a shelf, possibly for his own good. Talking to this person he had met online was great, Natsu had come to the conclusion of, but he had still that thing inside of him that, no matter how much happiness talking to this stranger gave him, he was still that reclusive boy that was a lost hope in the department of friends.

He felt weird, to be honest. And contradictory to his own thoughts, he spent hours on hours to days ignoring some of the texts that his friend sent him.

And while Natsu explained time and time again that no, it was not his fault, and yes, he was lazy, and of course, he was not to do it again; the implication of being downright _bored_ was always hovering over them like the cloud of depression that it represented. He was still the socially reclusive boy and could not, for the life of him, escape from his shell.

But he could handle Keys. He was going to fight through his social indifference and make sure she had a friend to talk to. There was a reason he handed her his phone number.

{…}

_Keys is now online._

**Keys: **Salamander?

**Keys: **Blerrhhh…

**Keys: **Come to me…

_Salamander is now online._

_Keys is typing…_

**Salamander: **let me guess, the usual?

**Keys: **What do you mean the usual? Excuse you.

**Salamander: **have you ever tried calling me something different

**Salamander: **like, something other from 'dork' or the, excuse me, incredibly stupid 'sally'

**Keys: **You're really mean sometimes.

**Salamander: **eh

**Keys: **Would it be weird if I came to you for… guy advice?

**Salamander: **not the best person to talk to

**Keys: **You're basically one of the only guy friends I have…

**Salamander: **do i HAVE to

**Keys: ***puppy dog eyes*

**Salamander: **nOT WORKING

**Keys: **Grr

**Salamander: **:p

**Salamander: **wait

**Salamander: **wait a second

**Salamander: **do my eyes deceive me

**Salamander: **did u just

**Salamander: **/not/ use a full stop at the end of that sentence

**Keys: **?

**Salamander: **i think the world is ending

**Salamander: **dear mavis save us

**Keys: **Oh, shut up.

**Keys: **Guy advice?

_Salamander is typing…_

**Salamander: **in return for what

**Keys: **/Really/?

**Salamander: **kidding, kidding

**Salamander: **go ahead

**Keys: **He's a jerk.

**Salamander: **then dont fucking like him

**Keys: **No, no. I just don't think he knows I exist.

**Salamander: **talk to him?

**Keys: **Too shy.

**Salamander: **its nOT THAT HARD

**Salamander: **'hi, im [insert name here] and i really like you'

**Keys: **This… This was a bad idea.

**Salamander: **thought we already clarified that

**Keys: **I thought you had like, some idea in that head of yours.

**Salamander: **i didnt, and the only one to blame here is you

**Keys: **That and your incredibly low IQ.

**Salamander: **[heart]

**Keys: **Screw you.

**Salamander: **ouch

_Keys is typing…_

**Salamander: **cat wants food

**Salamander: **brb

**Keys: **Ooh, kitty!

**Salamander: **l,lbbvze

**Keys: **Salamander?

**Salamander: **ntxbyu,p']=

**Keys: **?

**Keys: **Where'd you go?

**Keys: **Are you okay?

**Keys: **…

_Salamander is typing…_

**Salamander: **sorry

**Salamander: **say hi to the cat

**Keys: **Hii! What's her name?

**Salamander**: /him/

**Keys: **Okay, what's /his/name?

**Salamander: **happy

**Salamander: **have any pets?

**Keys: **I have a dog, named Plue.

**Keys: **Really fragile, shakes a lot. Likes to dance too.

**Salamander: **dog or cats?

**Keys: **Probably a biased opinion, but dogs.

**Salamander: **does this mean we cant be friends anymore

**Keys: **I'm an animal person in general, tbh.

**Salamander: **hell yeah

**Keys: **Pets are the best, can I get an amen?

**Salamander: **amen

**Salamander: **:P

**Keys: **Oh, ugh, sorry. My dad is calling me.

**Salamander: **ughhh

**Salamander: **your dad ruins everything

**Keys: **I know.

**Salamander: **bye, weirdo

**Keys: **Bye, dork.

_Keys is now offline._

**Salamander: **sigh

_Salamander is now offline._

{…}

As reflected to his online conversation as to himself in real life, Natsu gave a loud sigh and slipped out of his desktop chair, thudding onto the floor. His dad had texted him during their conversation that he was coming back from his business trip. It was nice, and all, it really was, but he didn't have the… _energy_ to deal with whatever his dad was going to throw at him. He missed his dad, but there was that part in his brain that just wanted him to go and leave him alone. Natsu could handle himself and the empty house he was accustomed to and the feeling that his whole schedule was going to the thrown of course made Natsu cringe in disapproval.

The male slid out of his chair, like he usually did, and rolled onto his bed. He pawed for his phone and, once he grasped it, clicked it on. He squinted at the sudden light the gadget emitted and stared at it until his eyes adjusted. _10:27_, it read. It wasn't all that late, in his book. He literally rolled out of his bed, landing on the floor with a satisfying _thud_, before hopping back onto his desktop computer and checking homework he had to do. Finding something he would at least a little bit enjoy, he walked over to his door and flicked on the lights, which were placed conveniently next to the door frame. He then almost skipped back into his chair, zipping open his school backpack and reaching for his notebook.

It seemed like such a long process for him, like he was lethargic and could not execute motions as fast as the average person could have. He reached into his tin of pens and pencils (which was placed next to him) and picked a black-coloured mechanical pen, starting on his work. He couldn't believe that his will to do homework was happening late at night, and that his productivity was only available to him if he found something he _wanted _to do. Anything else would be absolutely useless.

{…}

_Haah? _Natsu squirmed. It didn't feel like he was in his bed. He felt, bare. And the right side of his head… what was that doing? Was he sick? Did he need to be taken to the doctors? Hopefully not… getting sick would mean that someone would have to come over and look after himself, which was probably the worst thing that could happen in Natsu's book.

He forced himself to open his eyes, raising his hand to his cheek. It was wet. And sticky. How strange. He then immediately realised, _no, _he was not in his bed, but he was _yes_, on his desktop chair and unfortunately drooling on his homework that he completed last night. He turned his head to see his cat, a strangely blue-coloured exceed, looking like it was snickering at him. Well, as much as a cat could. Natsu scowled and stuck out his tongue, shoving his hand in his pocket, looking for his phone. When not coming in contact with anything, he worriedly whipped his head around, before his gaze settled on on his phone, which he left on the bed from last night.

He lethargically walked over to the bed, grasping the phone and clicking it on. _5:47_, it said. Natsu sighed and tucked the phone into his pocket, willing himself to fall into his daily morning routine. He slipped his scarf off the hook on the door, and slipped it around his neck.

{…}

The day went by pretty fast, for Natsu. He flew through all of his classes, and due to completing the homework from last night, didn't get into any trouble. Many more people attempted to converse with him, but no one prevailed, except for Keys. Which didn't count, of course, because Natsu had no idea who she was. I mean, for all he knew, she could easily just have been lying to him, and been a 45 year old man. Wouldn't that be creepy.

Natsu's phone buzzed and gentle smile appeared over his features. He clicked on his phone and read first message a few times over. The smile soon disappeared as he tucked his phone back into his pocket and jogged through the hallway, weaving his way through all the slow walkers and skidding past corners towards the cafeteria. He shook his head at all the noise coming from the room as people chanted '_Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!'_. It was a pretty sad sound, but one that he was unfortunately used to.

{…}

_Three new messages from Keys._

Keys: _You hear the ruckus coming from the cafeteria?_

_Keys is typing…_

Keys: _Salamander?_

Keys: _Hellooo?_

You: _hi. here. yeah i hear it_

Keys: _Gray and Natsu?_

You: _no, gray and that guy_

You: _dunno his real name, but people call him elfman_

You: _oh and gajeel joined in_

Keys: _It's a surprise not to see Natsu in there._

Keys: _Is that Cana?_

Keys: _And Loke?_

Keys: _Salamander? You still here?_

Keys: _Salamander?_

Keys: _sigh_

{…}

_Three new messages from Keys._

Keys: _You back? The fight is over. Looked pretty bad. Oh, Natsu joined in too. _

Keys: _Looked pretty bad. Everyone's in the infirmary apparently._

Keys: _You ignoring me for some reason?_

Keys: _Are you dead?_

{…}

_One new message from Keys._

Keys: _I'm starting class now, this is your last chance.._

{…}

_One new message from Keys._

Keys: _Okay, you back now?_

Salamander: _sorry, got caught up in the fight_

Keys: _You didn't cheer them on, did you?_

Keys: _Or worse, joined in?_

Salamander: _didnt join in_

Salamander: _cheered on tho_

Keys: _You're sick._

Salamander: _kidding! accidentally got hit by one of the flying chairs and had to be taken to infirmary_

Keys: _Oh. Feel better?_

Salamander: _more or less_

Salamander: _gonna leave a nasty bruise_

Keys: _Gotta go. Talk to you later._

Salamander: _ttyl to you too, girl_

Keys: _Hell to you._

{…}

Natsu snickered and attempted to itch his forehead through the bandages that were wrapped around his head, trying to poke his finger through. He failed, and giving up, walked towards class, with a pounding headache and the feeling like he was in a train – basically feeling like he wanted to throw up. He wasn't lying when he said he got hit by a flying chair, but he was lying when he said he didn't join in. He did so join in. The temptation of getting to punch someone in the face was too much.

Natsu staggered into class, but was excused by the teacher as he, Mr. Gildarts, noticed all the bandages wrapped around Natsu. He entered the first empty seat he saw and slumped into the seat, breathing a loud sigh of relief as he got to rest his extremely tired limbs. When he had realised he had not brought a single thing to class; Natsu turned to the person next to him but was instantly spooked as he saw the resident bully, Gajeel, hunch over his seat.

He straightened up and turned to see a blonde-haired girl, writing furiously on the notebook placed on her desk in front of her. Natsu paused; what did this girl have in relation to himself? This girl had never gone up to him before. This girl had never tried to start a conversation. Natsu took in her features, the way that there were red rectangular glasses perched on the edge of her nose. The way that a little bit of tongue stuck out of her mouth to the side. The way that she wwas leaning over her book but her shoulders were not hunched. She was poised; clean, and absolutely pretty. He was surprised that he had never seemed to noticed her.

The male softly cleared his throat. The blonde – quite comically – perked up and turned to where the sound had come from, raising a small and curious brow. As soon as he gaze set on Natsu, she straightened even more and furrowed her eyebrows together, "Yes?" She whispered, quite calmly. _Soothing_ – that was the first word that came to Natsu's head.

"Can I borrow a pencil? And a piece of paper?" He was like. It was almost a begging whisper.

"Sure." There was that soothing tone again. It was like a mixture of cheerful bubbliness but had the soothing maturity that Natsu adored.

She handed him a green pencil, accompanied by a piece of lined paper, crudely ripped out. Probably from one of her notebooks. Natsu went back to taking notes and she went back to scribbling on her notepad. She was one of the few people that didn't decide to continue a conversation with him. It was different, and Natsu liked it. Perhaps that whole reverse physiology thing worked after all.

Throughout the seeming never-ending class, Natsu had tried to initiate a proper conversation with the girl. He had only found out a few things: her name was Lucy, she liked to write and _no, _she did not need glasses all the time. Just to read. She had only replied with short, quick answers and looked away when Natsu stared at her too long. It was strange. Any other girl would bathe in his presence. This one seemingly did not.

Once the bell had rung and it was time to go to Happy once more, his phone buzzed with the usual after-class message to meet Keys on the Anonymous website.

{…}

_Keys is online._

**Keys: **Waaaaaiting…

**Keys: **Lalalala…

**Keys: ***dances*

**Keys: **Salamander what the hell?

_Salamander is now online._

**Salamander: **miss me? ;)

**Keys: **Keep on dreaming.

**Keys: **Had a run in with jerk-face, today.

**Salamander: **the guy?

**Keys: **Yeah. The guy.

**Keys: **He tried to talk to me. It was embarrassing. I could barely pull out words. I bet he thinks I'm a weirdo.

**Salamander: **who wouldnt

**Keys: **Hey!

**Keys: **You get what I mean.

**Salamander: **met a pretty girl today

**Keys: **Ooh. Do tell.

**Salamander: **she was nice

**Salamander: **didnt talk much tho

**Keys: **How disappointing. I just wanted to know if you pulled out a grand romantic gesture and sweeped her off her feet.

**Salamander: **eh

**Salamander: **too hard

**Salamander: **just said she was pretty

**Salamander: **not feeling it yet

**Keys: **Now that's truly disappointing.

**Salamander: **so, jerkface?

**Keys: **Oh. Right. Yeah, he asked my name and stuff but…

**Salamander: **at least you talked?

**Keys: **I guess.

**Keys: **Why am I talking to you about this anyway? You suck at romantic advice.

**Salamander: **you brought it up, tbh

**Keys: **Touché.

**Salamander: **harhar

**Keys: **Ooh! Important news! Got a new friend today!

**Salamander: **oh yeah?

**Keys: **Why do I sense the sarcasm in those words?

**Salamander: **because it is

_Keys is typing…_

**Salamander: **sarcastic, ofc

**Keys: **Sigh.

**Keys: **I did though!

**Salamander: **uhhuh

**Keys: **She's really cool. She has all the same interests as me.

**Salamander: **dont leave me now

**Keys: **Eh. You're like a leech.

**Salamander: **ouch

**Keys: **Exactly.

**Keys: **How's the cat doing?

**Salamander: **okay, i guess

**Salamander: **i feel really bad when i leave him alone, though

**Salamander: **he needs a friend

**Keys: **What about Plue? He's a pretty good dog.

**Keys: **And he's scared of everything, so he won't chase Happy or something.

**Salamander: **ive been wondering

**Salamander: **what happens if we never guess who each other are

**Salamander: **are we gonna stay anonymous forever

**Keys: **Interesting point, dork.

_Salamander is typing…_

**Keys: **Hm… maybe at the end of the year?

**Keys: **New years?

**Salamander: **too cliche

**Salamander: **cliche with that thingy

**Keys: **Auto-correct does it for you.

**Salamander: **i already told you about my trust levels for autocorrect

**Keys: **Eh.

**Keys: **Then what do you want to do?

**Salamander: **idek

**Keys: **What about on my birthday?

**Salamander: **whens that?

**Keys: **July 1st.

**Salamander: **too close

**Keys: **Ughhh…

**Salamander: **what about

**Salamander: **hm..

_Salamander is typing…_

**Salamander: **i cant think of anything

**Keys: **New Years it is?

**Salamander: **i guess

**Keys: **Alright! You have to swear, okay?

_Keys is typing…_

**Salamander: **fuck

**Keys: **Not like that!

**Keys: **You get what I mean!

**Salamander: **fine

**Keys: **Repeat after me:

**Keys: **I solemnly swear to reveal myself on New Years Day.

**Salamander: **i solemnly swear to reveal myself on new years day

**Keys: **It's done!

**Salamander: **so it is

{…}

With a small grin playing on his mouth, Natsu cracked his knuckles and nodded at his computer screen.

"I solemnly swear to reveal myself on New Year's Day." He repeated, giving a satisfied nod. He continued to chat with Keys, but his mind raced about who she was. She seemed so nice, she could be a popular, but it didn't really seem like was not something Erza would do. Nor Evergreen. Mirajane was a good option, but... it just felt wrong to Natsu. He frowned. This would take a lot of work.

* * *

><p><strong>please review with constructive criticism and whatnot<strong>

**motivation! go! go! go!**


	4. History

**guysguysguysguys**

**im so sorry this was meant to be up like 3 days ago ;-;**

**i appreciate all the reviews and favourites and follows! i dont say that very often, so... i need to remind you guys**

**i dont own ft**

* * *

><p>"Hey! Listen up, brats!" Gildarts – or known to the students as Mr. Clive, slammed his right palm onto his messy desk, his voice ringing out around the classroom, or possibly the school. Natsu didn't react in his seat. He didn't take offense to Mr. Clive calling him – well, <em>them<em>, if he were to add in the entire class – brats, because truthfully, they were.

Mr. Clive's throat grumbled in a low groan, one that somehow managed to sound like he had given up on life itself, and he had no idea why he was teaching a bunch of bratty kids that didn't even want to learn. He slammed his palm down onto the table again, this time getting the _full_ attention of all the students, compared to the last slamming of his palm that only caught the attention of the students for a few seconds.

Natsu looked at the teacher straight in the eye, waiting for a response. He trusted this teacher, a lot. He was a friend of his dad and when he was little, he used to play ball games with the man. A year ago, Mr. Clive got into a car accident, leaving many different deep scratches and scars while also losing a left leg, but he's doing alright now, Natsu supposed.

Mr. Clive stared down all of the students in the room, attempting to intimidate them, before switching tactics and pulling out a relaxed cheerful smile. He rubbed his hands together; the toothy grin on his lips was obviously out of character considering the way he looks. He was tall, hugely built, heavily muscled with scratchy stubbles dotting along his chin with long slicked-back hair. 'Could be classified as a biker – of some sort', Natsu once heard the kids down the hall once say.

"Group projects!" He exclaimed happily, and a loud groan passed over the students. Group projects were the worst. Hating people was the only thing people seemed to learn during group projects.

A hand popped up in the air and waved back and forth. Natsu raised a brow and turned his head to see 'pretty girl', also known as Lucy, sitting up straight, her right hand waving in the air. Natsu noticed that she was not wearing her glasses. Maybe she only needed them for reading. Conversations with her had been going at an unbelievably slow pace, and although he had told Keys he wasn't feeling it yet, he was. She was so pretty; and he only knew the outer layer of her personality, she seemed a bit reserved and quiet, so she was basically quite the opposite of Natsu, but the male could not stop looking.

He had no reason, only to say she was absolutely unbelievably _pretty_.

Her hand fell down from the air and her lips began to move; but he did not hear the words she was speaking, as he was too mesmerized by the way her lips somehow managed to look so gentle and her absolutely flawless skin; no pimples – none. He was astonished. He shook his head to snap himself out of his trance, and clapped his hands over his cheeks, making his skin go red. Pretty girl stopped her sentence and turned her head as she heard the loud slap of skin against skin, and raised a tentative brow. Natsu chuckled nervously.

"Just trying to keep myself awake," the male nervously adjusted the scarf around his neck, "keep going." Natsu actually _attempted_ to listen into the conversation.

"As you were, Miss Heartfilia," _Miss Heartfilia_. The salmon-haired male repeated, somewhat nodding in agreement. He was feeling strange.

"So, uhm, do we get to choose?" _Choose what?_

"No, I'll pick the partners." _Oh… wait, partners?_ Natsu thought to himself, his anxiety levels rising phenomenally fast. He didn't want to work with someone else. The only person Natsu would accept as his partner was his cat – Happy, who couldn't even hold a pencil, let alone manage to help him complete a project.

Pretty girl spoke up again. "Can I… be alone?" She bit her bottom lip, chewing on it. Natsu found his face getting hot. He _really_ needed to calm himself down. She just bit her lip and that was that.

"Me too?" Natsu piped up. He did not want to get partnered up with anybody, he could bet that he would just end up fighting with them.

Mr. Clive gave them one long hard look before coming to the conclusion of an answer, which was a blunt, "No." He pursed his lips together and tilted his head to the side. "Maybe I should pair you two together?"

Natsu frowned. _Oh no._

"Yes. I will."

_Dear Mavis, help me._

Natsu looked over to the female. She squirmed in her seat and seemingly refused to glance towards Natsu, making the male even more frustrated. Come on, he knew that he wasn't _that_ bad looking. I mean, he had concluded a long time ago that she was _something else_, but he was self-aware and he knew that he was pretty muscular, but in a lean sort of way.

Mr. Clive, thumped back down onto his seat. It didn't twirl around like Natsu's desktop chair, it was a wooden one, like all the other seats in the classroom. He opened up his laptop, tapping obnoxiously loud as he began to write a list.

"Partners… for… history… task…" Mr. Clive murmured out loud, making Natsu stifle a groan. He was trying to emphasize the point that he, Mr. Gildarts Clive, _has appointed Natsu and Lucy as partners for some stupid history project._

_"There, you two loners. You're partners. Now suck it up."_

Pretty girl held her heads in her hands, letting out a small whimper. Natsu's pride took a heavy blow as he winced at the whimper. He wasn't _that _bad, was he? Natsu thought to himself, crossing his arms over his chest and sinking down into his seat. He would just have to get through it.

{…}

_Two new messages from Keys._

Keys: _News!_

Keys: _I got partnered up with jerk-face for some project._

You: _do u need to rant about it_

Keys: _No, not really._

Keys: _Like, I'm overjoyed, but then I'm not._

You: _how_

Keys: _I'm partnered with him and I might get a chance for him to, like /notice me/._

You: _ooh_

You: _but then you might make a fool of yourself_

You: _like you always do_

Keys: _This is a serious subject here!_

Keys: _No room for teasing!_

You: _got partnered up with pretty girl_

Keys: _No romantic gesture yet?_

You: _nooope_

Keys: _You feeling it?_

You: _want the truth_

Keys: _Of course, you dork._

You: _tch_

Keys: _Just spit it out!_

You: _yes_

You: _kind of_

You: _shes just really pretty_

Keys: _Oooh!_

Keys: _You in Mr. Clive's class?_

You:_ hom_

You: _wait_

You: _will that give me away_

Keys: _Hom?_

Keys: _Yes, it will give you away. Just wanted to see._

You: _oh harhar_

You: _im not stupid_

Keys:_ Well…_

_Keys is typing…_

You: _dont u finish that_

Keys_: Fine._

You: _alright, not saying_

Keys: _B-But-!_

You: _nooope_

You: _gotta go, weirdo_

You: _see u_

Keys: _[heart]_

You_: [heart]_

{…}

Natsu looked up from his spot in the classroom, surveying the empty room. He gave out a loud sigh and lazily clicked off his phone before pushing himself out of his chair, planting his palms onto the school desk and pushing himself upwards. He adjusted the scarf around his neck and clasped his hand around the item casually. He made sure to grab the notebook on his desk before sauntering outside of the room, the halls still holding the casual student here and there, but empty enough to please Natsu.

He nonchalantly wandered through the halls, loving the way there weren't that many students cramping him and making him feel small, causing his acute social anxiety to thrust into action and make him a little nervous. He's usually indifferent to these things, but his popularity serves for some awkward conversations while students – not quite intended nor accidentally – press against each other.

"Are you coming with me?" Natsu turned around, momentarily confused. No one usually initiated a conversation with him; perhaps someone was feeling particularly brave today.

"Ah?" The male almost wistfully breathed out, clutching the notebook in his hands. It was pretty girl. She was still here too.

"For the project – Gil – ah, Mr. Clive asked the partners to do some planning for homework. He went over the basic stuff during class; I was just wondering, you know, if you want to do it now because, like, it's totally cool if you don't. Like, I'm not pushing you or anything to come, I mean, like, it's –"

Natsu gave out a breathy laugh that caused Lucy to stand up straight. He noticed color flood into her cheeks and he adjusted the scarf around his neck again, giving the female a cheeky smile. He had to stay confident. He didn't want to let the girl think he was weak. "I can go, for sure. I should probably clean my room or something, but this sounds better."

Pretty girl gave a content sigh – it seemed like one of relief – and walked past him, shuffling quickly to make sure there was some distance between them. Natsu rolled his eyes and caught up with the girl, his long and confident strides easily keeping up with the female.

"Can we go to your house?"

"Yeah," Natsu clenched then unclenched his jaw, eager to continue the conversation. He was getting somewhere! He was! "Why, though?"

"Uh – my Dad doesn't approve of… visitors. He's very solitary." Natsu gave a quick appreciative nod, tucking his hands in his pockets and feeling around for his phone. He really wished he could talk to Keys, to lessen the seemingly awkward atmosphere.

The duo eventually reached the parking lot east to the school; Natsu didn't need a car for himself but Lucy, apparently so. He glanced over to the staff parking lot, which was somewhat conveniently adjacent to the student one. Since, there were rumors of people _doing drug_s or something in the lots and the teachers wanted to keep a watchful eye over the students.

"Do you… have a car?" Pretty girl asked hesitantly, tucking loose strands of her hair behind her ear.

"No, I walk. The house is only a couple of blocks away." Natsu explained, motioning to a street right of the lot, pointing a careful finger down the street and twisting his hand to the side, motioning that to reach his house you had to turn a corner.

"…join me?" The salmon-haired squinted. She murmured the first part of her sentence so quietly he would have begun to believe his hearing was weakening if it was not for her second half.

Lucy cleared her throat and began again. "Since you don't have a car, would you like to join me?"

"Ah – oh, no – I mean – yeah – no." Natsu stuttered, nervously adjusting his scarf again, out of habit. His heart sank at her 'trying-to-conceal-but-ultimately-failing-deflated' look. He quickly added on to his stutter, "Motion sickness." He offered her a small smile, attempting to lift her spirits.

Pretty girl attempted to perk up, giving the male a small smile but still showing the same, heartbreaking disappointed expression that Natsu began to loathe oh-so greatly.

"Okay. I'll just… follow you there?" She turned on her heel and began to walk towards her car, colored silver like most of the others cars in the parking lot.

"Wait–" Natsu began, shuffling over to her, bouncing on each step. "My motion sickness isn't that bad. I'll come with you."

Lucy gave the male a small smile and opened the car door for him, Natsu gave her an appreciative nod as he ducked into the car and shuts the door himself, the female already sitting next to him, clicked in her seatbelt.

{…}

"You – You said it wasn't that bad!" Lucy exclaimed, keeping her eyes on the road, forcing herself not to look at the cowering male. He was a stupid idiot that doesn't deserve to be trusted.

"I–" Natsu choked on his words, the bile in his throat threatening to spill all over his lap. Natsu was disgusted by the image of it. "I-It isn't." He leaned his head against the cool car window, his stomach moaning at him. He was really going to pay for this. His stomach absolutely loathed him at the current time.

"Why did you lie to me?" Lucy exclaimed, gripping the steering wheel.

Natsu gurgled in response, his head pounded with headache and just wanted the movement of the vehicle to cease, to stop and never come back. A whirring sound filled the male's ears and the window suddenly began to move down, yet Natsu had no recollection of pressing the automatic button.

Fresh air hit Natsu's face and the salmon-haired male decided to make the most of it, sticking his head outside the window, now prepared if he were to spill any of the contents floating around in his stomach.

"You're –" Pretty girl sighed, softening her grip on the steering wheel as her fingers were beginning to stiffen. "You're so stupid."

"Take – a –" Natsu gulped down the bile, "right." The male felt the car move in the direction he wanted it to, so he sighed in relief. "Here."

The car shuddered to a stop and the devil engine stopped its loud muttering, letting Natsu sit in peace as he waited for his headache to pass, clutching onto his stomach while still leaning out the window. The window began to roll up and Natsu leaned his head back, letting it roll up all the way.

He clicked open the car door and stumbled out of the vehicle, quickly scampering behind one of the neighbours' hedges and spilling his contents over the greenery, making Lucy wince in disapproval. It was one, vomiting in front of the person you were beginning to develop feelings for – it was another, to almost vomit in their car.

Lucy sauntered up to Natsu and wacked him over his head, causing the male to blink rapidly at the motion and making him acutely step to the side in shock.

"_You lied to me_!" She screeched, childishly stomping her foot onto the ground, making Natsu bite back a laugh, despite his current state.

"I didn't vomit in your car–"

"It's not about the fu – it's not about the car!" Lucy screamed again crossing her arms over her chest and giving him a stern look. She was not going to allow herself to become angry enough to swear. "You – You could have been sent to the hospital or something!"

Natsu didn't resist his chuckle, a grin spilling over his features as Lucy subtly whacked him on his shoulder, again and again and again, in tiny soft hits but still hard enough to prove her point.

"Don't worry." Natsu straightened from his hunched position over the hedge, and strode to his front door in a confident manner, showing that he was alright and he did not need to be sent to the hospital.

He fiddled around his pocket to look for his house keys, and when he came in contact with them, he jiggled the keys once more to fit into the key hole and twisted it around to unlock the front door. He felt Lucy's eyes against his neck and he suddenly felt very uncomfortable. No one was usually in his house except for him and Happy – with the occasional 'father' if he was lucky.

"This is it." Natsu said as Lucy gaped and glanced around the house, in all of its two-storied glory. She ran her hand over the table next to the door; it was littered with letters and a statue of an old-century Chinese man, probably symbolizing luck or something superstitious and such.

Everything was neat; everything was where it was meant to be. The books in the correct shelves and pillows in the correct place in the couch, but it still emitted that homely feeling that Natsu was so used to.

"_This_ is very grand." Lucy murmured, slipping her shoes off and running her foot across the lush carpet, loving the texture.

"This is what you'd see anywhere, like across the street." Natsu closed the door, shutting it with a satisfying _click_.

"Isn't – isn't your Dad a CEO of a company?"

"Ah?" Natsu placed his keys on the table next to the door before diving onto the loveseat in front of a television, stretching as soon as his body hit the cushion. "Where'd you here that?"

"Everybody knows." Lucy took a seat on the couch facing left of the coffee table, which was right in front of Natsu's loveseat.

"Do they?"

"Hm-mm." Lucy hummed, her fingers dancing over the bowl of peanuts which were placed nicely onto the coffee table. "Are we going to study?"

"We probably should, to be honest." Natsu murmured, pushing himself off the loveseat and walking towards the stairs leading to the second floor. Lucy followed suit, popping a peanut into her mouth before following the male.

{…}

Natsu glanced worriedly at his phone. Usually, by now, Keys would have messaged him to alert him to hop onto the website they had become accustomed to. But she hadn't and he was getting worried. This hasn't happened before; she was always just _there_, not physically but they had a schedule and she was _wrecking_ it. The salmon-haired male knew enough not to text her while pretty girl and himself where studying, but still, he was _curious_.

He had gone downstairs to get himself a snack – while promising to bring pretty girl a snack of his choice, when he had come to realization that he was checking his phone so much that pretty girl might have begun to think he was going crazy.

He opened the fridge and mindlessly let his hand wander through the shelves while clicking his phone on and off. He sighed loudly and grabbed the carton of milk from the fridge, letting himself drink from the carton before shoving the liquid back into the fridge and worriedly grasping at his neck for his scarf, before realizing he had hung it on the hook on his door.

Suddenly, his phone buzzed and he breathed a sigh of relief.

{…}

_One new message from Keys._

Keys:_ Why haven't you messaged me?_

You: _i could say the same fuckin thing_

Keys: _Hey – you have no right to be angry!_

You: _you usually text first_

_Keys is typing…_

You:_ so i was like, hey, why don't i fucking wait?_

Keys:_ I was thinking that too!_

You: _we both suck_

Keys:_ Agreed._

Keys:_ I'm... I'm with jerk-face right now._

You:_ are you_

Keys:_ Yep._

_You: how is it going?_

_Keys: Pretty good, actually. I can hold a decent conversation without blushing and I think… he might actually like my personality._

_You: hooray_

_Keys: Thanks._

_Keys: What about yourself?_

_You: pretty girl_

_Keys: Paired up?_

_You: yes_

_Keys: How goes it?_

_You: fine, really_

Keys: _That's it?_

_You are typing…_

Keys: I_s that /all/ you're going to say?_

Keys: _/Seriously/?_

You:_ what_

_Keys is typing…_

You: _do you want a 10 page essay_

Keys: _You – You get what I mean!_

You: _[snicker]_

Keys: _So… I guess no website?_

You: _guess not_

Keys: _Talk to you in a bit._

You: _sure, weirdo_

Keys: _Dork._

{…}

Natsu tucked his phone in his pocket, unable to retract the smile on his face. These conversations were nothing special from another person's point of view – they may even be considered boring, but the salmon-haired male loved them all the same.

"Hey! What's taking you so long?" Lucy called from upstairs, making Natsu increase his pace, clutching the bag of Doritos in his arm.

"Yeah, yeah!" Natsu shouted back at her, rolling his eyes.

He ran up the stairs and leaped into his bedroom, towards a giggling pretty girl and dumping the bag of crisps on her lap.

"Can you get the cat to wake up? – he looks so cute!" Lucy squealed, shoving the packet off her lap and wandering over to Natsu's bed. She kneeled down to look eye-level with a snoozing Happy, the cat most probably dreaming of fish, or something relating to the sort.

"I would… but he needs his beauty sleep." Natsu chuckled and picked up the notebook which pretty girl dumped onto the floor with the packet of Doritos, flicking through the notes she took down while he was absent.

"…fine. I'll leave it alone." Lucy huffed, crossing her arms right under her chest. Natsu was a little bit surprised she backed down so easily.

"So… this history thing, huh…" Natsu began, leaning down to sit on the floor.

"Yeah."

* * *

><p><strong>btw, hom = homeroom (and history)<strong>

**thanks for reading. you can review if you want but i'm not forcing you.**


	5. Curious Wingwomen

**A/N: **Hello! I should make my author's notes more organized, but sometimes I'm just too tired to do so. I forgot to commemorate _iJustLostMySanity _for beta-ing last chapter, so I'd just take the time to thank them now! They also beta-d this chapter, so hopefully it doesn't have as much mistakes as the draft. Hope you like this one!

**Disclaimer: **Don't own Fairy Tail. I cry.

* * *

><p>"Did you write down those points I told you to?"<p>

"Yeah." Natsu huffed, cracking his knuckles again for the third time in five minutes. It was driving Lucy insane, apparently.

"Can you stop that?"

"Nah, thanks." Lucy rolled her eyes while the salmon-haired male responded with a snicker, his fingers buzzing across his computer keyboard, rocking himself back and forth with this foot while steadily typing a flow of words onto the digital page. "Thank Mavis for technology, right, Luigi?"

"_Lucy_," The girl bitterly corrected, his fingers gripping the edge of the workbook while Natsu, once again, responded with a blood-boiling snicker. Natsu knew her proper name, of course, but he simply just enjoyed riling her up. Although, Natsu had to remind himself every now and then to hold back, as her 'I'm-gonna-kill-you' face was just as scary as the school president's, Erza Scarlet.

"Whatever, Luigi." The male responded with, looking around his room for Happy and locking his field of vision on the lazy cat. He was snoozing on the windowsill next to his desk. He hadn't told Lucy the name of the Exceed yet, she didn't seem curious in him (she made the occasional compliment about the feline, accompanied by the mandatory scratch) so the male found it unnecessary to talk about unnecessary things, because to Mavis above did Natsu not want for this female to lose interest in him.

The duo worked in silence for Natsu knew how long, the silence calm and strangely comforting in a way that Natsu could not put his finger on. He could sense the dash of awkward between them but he still felt fine with the silence. It was weird, Natsu came to the conclusion to, because it really was. Perhaps he was slowly going crazy.

"Ah – have you started to set up the slides?" Natsu murmured, somewhat to himself, like he was almost afraid she wasn't going to answer back.

"Yes. Have you finished all the points?"

"Almost. Do you want me to make them into paragraphs after?"

"That would be nice, thanks." Natsu clicked the roof of his tongue in agreement as they continued to work. He began to believe that they would be pretty well as a team. Perhaps even more with Happy by their sides.

The bed creaked behind him and Natsu spun around on his desktop chair, looking in the direction of which the sound resonated. Lucy gave him a nervous laugh and placed the textbook onto his bed, and dusted herself off. "Going to the… um, lavatory. Be right back." She murmured sheepishly, then jogging her way to the place she needed to be.

"Eheh. Sure!" Natsu shouted after the girl, turning back to his computer and typing in a couple more words to convince his brain that he was being productive. Which he was. Kind of.

He instinctively reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, clicking it on to give Keys a message of his own. This had been added to their schedule; every Friday they would head out with their respective partners to work on their projects, and not text each other for the period of time they would allow so they would not disturb the development between their crushes. It was an important thing to remember; so Natsu remembered.

He typed in a message to send to Keys, half-hoping that she would respond but unhealthily doubting himself. He sent the message and place his phone on his desk, anticipating the response but mentally punching himself for _maybe _interrupting his time with her crush (the _maybe _was an important addition, there was never going to be a _definitely_ or an _impossible_). But still, there was really nothing she could do about it, maybe caps lock him until his eyes bled, but he still wouldn't _die_. Perhaps metaphorically, but not physically, which was always a good thing.

A buzz came from his bed, causing Natsu to turn around. It wasn't the sound of a bee, certainly. It was more of a sound coming from a gadget, something electronic. _Maybe a pager_, Natsu thought, but he didn't own a pager, and even though pretty girl seemed like the type of person to own a pager, she probably didn't. Therefore, it was the buzz of a phone – probably the buzz of a text. It wasn't a phone call, Natsu analysed in his head, because it was important to analyse things.

He dragged himself forward with his feet, the wheels of his desktop chair rumbling along with him, leading him to the bed. He curiously looked left and right, to see if anyone was in the room, but it was just the snoozing Happy. He tentatively reached out his hand and lifted up the textbook covering the gadget, gently tossing it to the side in a relaxed motion. He stared intently at her phone, reading the first part of the text message over and over again.

{…}

_One new message from Sally._

Sally: _yo. sorry (not sorry) if you're with jerkface right no…_

{…}

_Wait, waitwaitwaitwait. _Natsu stuttered to himself, quickly placing the textbook over the phone and skittering away from the device, hurriedly turning back to his desktop, looking at the dot points he had written for the project the duo were working on. He started breathing in and out, deeply and obnoxiously, like he had come in contact with the devil himself. _Are you… telling me… __**are you motherfucking telling me… **__Keys… likes… me? _Natsu slammed his head on his desk, stifling a groan. "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING?" He shouted at Happy. The Exceed didn't react.

_But now I know_, Natsu thought to himself, raising his head to his ceiling, to reflect over his choices. Should he tell her? They were going so good… Salamander was once thing, pretty girl was another, but combine the two… it scared the crap out of Natsu. He was so comfortable online, and although he liked the presence (and, admittedly, _looks_) of pretty girl, he just wasn't ready to find out the fact she had a crush on him. How does that happen? It was like some cliché story an author made up for the hell of it.

_It was stupid_.

_It was totally uncalled for_.

But instead of gloating to Keys – or pretty girl, he decided to keep the fact that he won the bet to himself. Didn't want to find out like this, in his bedroom, where it all began. He had imagined several times the perfect moment to find out, just before New Years Eve, rubbing it in Keys' face that he guessed first _right _before they were going to confess. But really, Natsu learnt that there was nothing a perfect time for anything. This was the reality and he was going to have to face the facts. His perfect moment was never coming and now he was torn.

He wanted to stay as Salamander; Salamander was cool, and snarky, didn't get in a fight every two seconds and managed to stay completely normal, ignoring the fact that his Dad was away so much he was practically dead, and that the only true friends he had was a cat and someone he met online, who, ironically, actually the person who was working on a history project at this very moment, a history project with _him_, and who happened to be extremely pretty in a way that Natsu simply couldn't figure out.

No, Natsu was not going to tell her. He wasn't. He was not. He refused to. He wanted to develop their relationship to more than this. He wasn't ready for the forced confession Keys was going to have to give after he would confess that he, _Salamander_, was jerkface this whole time and he truly was embarrassed to find out all these things about her and all these things she knew about him.

…the late night chats,

…the snarky arguments and the troublesome rants,

…the feelings of a safe room that they always entered when they began to talk,

…all falling down, down into a hole because Lucy wasn't bothered enough to take her phone into the toilet with her.

Natsu clamped his hands over his ears, shaking his head. He was not to get too caught up into this. This wasn't too much of a problem – although he was very blatantly lying to himself, it was a big problem – and he could probably handle it (another lie).

"…Natsu?" He voice rang through his head, watery, like he suddenly dived into a pool and all sounds around him were now suddenly extremely muffled. "Natsu!" The voice ran clearer. "NATSU!" The voice snapped him out of his trance, making the male blink once, then twice, before making him spin his head around to find the source of the noise. Maybe he was going a little bit insane.

"Oh thank Mavis, you're okay." Pretty girl stood at the doorway, her red hoodie zipped all the way up until the line of her collarbone. "You kind of just… lost it for a moment or two," she murmured, going back down onto the bed. Natsu went back to his desktop screen, quietly breathing in and out of his nose, trying to calm down a little bit more. It was too early for him to find out. It was. _It was_.

"Hey, Natsu," the female began again, slowly starting the sentence, like she was carefully analysing and picking out the correct words to say. "Did my phone buzz while I was gone?" Natsu span around again for the third time in a span of ten minutes, pulling on a forced smile and placing his hands on his knees.

"Ah, yeah," Natsu began, trying his best for his eyebrows not to crease in concentration. "I didn't check it though. 'Cause that'd be… weird." He finished, turning back around so he couldn't see her expression. It was a half-lie, because it _did _buzz… but he checked it. And now he realised that he probably should have let pretty girl keep her damn privacy.

"Alright." Awkward tension had risen between the two. Natsu continued to type into his desktop – even if it was just a jumble of words and it did not mean any true thing, it was just that he had to distract himself from talking to her again, so he wouldn't make a fool out of himself. _This is what it would be like to keep a secret. _Natsu growled softly. _Damn._

And he still couldn't fathom why he didn't want to tell her. Of course, he had the general idea, but he _didn't understand._ Someone should easily be able to understand themselves, despite the problem, and understand their needs and the reasoning for their decisions, but all Natsu simply could not do was comprehend. And he kept on telling himself _Natsu, it's not that difficult, just tell her, you'll get the awesome prize and everyone'll be happy_.

And he had already told himself multiple reasons why, but he simply could not comprehend for the sake of simply not comprehending.

{…}

_Salamander is now online._

**Salamander: **ahhh.. finally done with all that studying..

**Salamander: **this is most work ive done in weeks

_Keys is now online_.

_Keys is typing…_

**Salamander: **right on time, weirdo

**Keys: **Shhh.

**Salamander: **how goes it

**Keys: **Don't think jerkface likes me as much anymore.

**Salamander: **did he even like you in the first place

**Keys: **Shut up!

**Keys: **You're such an asshole sometimes.

**Salamander: **[heart]

_Keys is typing..._

**Salamander: **back to the point

**Keys: **Fine.

**Keys: **He (tragic, really) ignored me for the most part of our time together.

**Salamander: **i hate this

**Salamander: **i really do

**Keys: **I know, but…

**Salamander: **theres a reason we call him jerkface keys

**Salamander: **and if he doesnt pay attention to you dont pay attention to him

_Keys is typing…_

**Salamander: **simples

**Keys: **But…

**Salamander: **shhhh

**Keys: **C'mon.

**Salamander: **shut up, will you

**Keys: **You're kind of off-it today.

_Salamander is typing…_

**Keys: **Rough day, sweetheart?

**Salamander: **you dont even know what rough is, sister

**Keys: **Thanks.

**Salamander: **what

**Keys: **I don't know, making me happy.

**Salamander: **/what/

**Keys: **Seriously! It helps. It does.

**Salamander: **i might burst into tears

**Salamander: **dont do this to me

**Keys: **Oh harhar.

**Salamander: **[heart]

**Keys: **I have to go now. Don't cry on me.

**Salamander: **shrug

{…}

Natsu was lying to himself. He really, really was. It was painful and unreasonable but he had to, for the sake of having to. Not having a reason to justify his actions was completely unbearable, but he did not wish to shame himself so he lied and lied and lied. He… was unmistakeably torn about the situation at hand. But he was more okay than he was before and that was alright with him. But he knew that having to lie to Keys/Pretty Girl was going to tear him apart like a hurricane.

His phone buzzed next to him and emitted the catchy jingle of a default tone, Natsu snatching his phone and leaning towards the device, reading the name across the screen. It was his father. He liked his father a lot; Natsu really did, he was kind and loving but he had the incoherent need to put the phone down. He was definitely not being himself today and it made him feel – well, unrealistic. However, he went on with the notion and swiped to answer the call, sucking in a deep breath.

::_Natsu! Hey!_::

::_Hey, Dad. Why are you calling?_::

::_Ah… It's very unfortunate, but I've had to postpone the holiday. I know you really like fishing with you, Happy and I but I unfortunately can't go. Metalicana – what a stupid nickname that is – is being really demanding this time 'round._::

::_I was kind of expecting it, y'know._::

::_You were? Is it really that common?_::

::_I just miss you, you know? It's been a while since I've seen you._::

::_A few months ago._::

::_That was last year, Dad!_::

::_Was it?_::

::_I'm pretty sure._::

::_Alright, I have time to spare, want to ask me about my travels?_::

::_Sure. How goes the alliance with the Irons and the Airs?_::

::_It's going great, actually, the Foxes and I are gathering up the same buyers. I seemed combining our sales proposals was a great idea!_::

::_Hey Dad, what do you make again?_::

::_Natsu-! How could you forget your old man's work?!_::

::_I'm kidding. But seriously though._::

::_We're a Pyrotechnics company, son! The Irons – Gears and Foxes Inc, create machines, and the Airs – Marvell-s _– {Natsu refrains from laughing himself when he hears his father snigger across the line} – _Marvell-s. Marvellous. How genius was that, son?_::

::_Super-smart, Dad._::

::_Anyway, we create fireworks and all the sorts. Proud of your old man?_::

::_You ask me this every time we talk, Dad._::

::_Just want to make sure._ _Throw any parties lately?_::

::_Dad…_::

::_Drink any booze? Lose your virginity?_::

::_**Dad**__…_::

::_I'm just kidding, Son. But seriously._::

::_No. No parties._::

::_Ah, my son's no fun._::

::_…but-!_::

::_Just testin' ya. Meet any girls? Can I expect a nice little lady for my boy when I get back home?_::

::_No._::

::_Nothin'? But you inherited all my good looks!_::

::_Good looks?_::

::_You know it's there, son. Don't lie_.::

::_Okay, okay. You look, uh – nice, Dad._::

::_Good 'nouf. Hey look, Redfox is calling me. I'll see you later, alright? No sex. Or drugs. Or alcohol. Alright?_::

::_Yeah._::

::_Bye._::

::_See ya._::

Natsu sighed and leaned back into his computer chair, wholly disappointed to not find his Dad standing at his doorway, with his nerdy little fishing hat and his fishing rod motioning Happy and him to go out into the forest and go fish for some cod. Or salmon. Happy really liked salmon.

He dropped his phone on the carpeted floor, the motioning ending with a nice _thud_, before he used the arms over his desktop chair to push himself out, his feet dragging him across the floor, through his hallway and down the stairs. He found a wandering Happy perched on the marble countertop in the Kitchen, obviously thinking he was capable of looking for food himself.

"Oi, Happy," Natsu shouted at the cat, the Exceed beckoning to his call and trotting over to the male and looking absolutely curious. Natsu usually let the cat be, like the blue feline was a talking human-like animal and engaged in conversations with the mammal even though it wouldn't respond back.

"Let's go out and eat. My treat. I might need to get a job or somethin', for fish money, y'know?" He murmured, almost to himself, but it bugged him when he got the feeling that Happy was being 'left out'. He ran his left pointer fingers' knuckle down the cat's spine, gently sighing as the cat slithered out of his rub. "Yeah, yeah. I know you're hungry. Pizza?"

Happy dropped onto the floor and trotted over to the doorway, gliding through the flap while Natsu quickly ran upstairs to grab a jacket and his treasured scarf. He grabbed the house keys from the counter and shut the door close.

{…}

It was a little chilly that night so Natsu did not receive any weird looks from strangers as he wore his dragon-scale looking scarf. He was glad for it. He was also glad for, despite Happy being a cat, and the felines being well known for not being as loyal as dogs, Happy favourably trotted along the males' feet, like any companion would. Sometimes he felt like Happy was his own brother, which was quite unusual in society's standards, but he had never fit the cookie-cutter mould for society and he wasn't going to start right then and there.

Happy slithered along the males' sneakers, signalling that they were at their destination and to probably escape from the slowly rising cold (night always served for some frigid wind). It was summer; most days it was hot; others it dropped below and became unusually cold, but Natsu didn't mind either way. He wasn't affected (very greatly) by cold nor warmth, but if the cold was abnormally cold and the warmth abnormally warm, then it would begin to set in. Natsu raised his head to the sign above the double doors leading into the restaurant/take out place. '_8-Island'_, the sign read, marking that Natsu was in fact at the correct place.

As the male pushed the doors open, a bell chimed signalling the arrival of another customer. He gave a curt nod and a wide smile to people he knew, which was more people than he initially expected, and took a seat with Happy at a table not too far from the door, but not too close. It was named their 'usual spot' and it lived up to its name.

"Hi, Natsu! You don't usually come on Fridays." Natsu looked up from his drinks menu and nodded to the waitress, a big smile still plastered over his face. "So," the waitress piped up again, leaning onto his table. Happy sat opposite the salmon-haired male, sitting patiently on the chair. "What do you want?"

"Do you sell just salmon, Mira?" He asked the extremely beautiful female. Now, he had to admit that somewhere deep in his heart, he harboured a nice small crush on Mirajane, but then everyone did, he found out, because she was absolutely extremely pretty. In his opinion, not _Pretty Girl _pretty but still enough to make Natsu blush a little whenever she handed him a compliment. It was just that Mirajane was a very likable person and he respected that.

"For Happy?"

"Aye. Raw or cooked, I don't think he minds," Natsu confirmed. He felt the need to order everything on the menu. "Can I have pizza – suddenly craving it, y'know?"

"Okay! Pepperoni? –" Natsu nods "– and drinks?"

"Coke. Happy wants water, I think," He squints at the feline, as if confirming that his assumption was correct, and nods. "In a little bowl too, thanks."

The female collects the menu from the male's grip and saunters off into the kitchen, while Natsu leans back into his chair and lets out an almost obnoxious yawn, stretching his arm to the right by ducking his left arm under the bicep and pushing outwards. Happy rolled in his seat, obviously impatient, completely altered to his behaviour around Mira just a few short seconds ago.

"Ah – Natsu? Is that you?" The salmon-haired blinked, once and then another time after. Who would be talking to him at this time? "Natsu, it's me, Levy."

"Levy… who?" Natsu spun his head around to see a blue-haired female, leaning on her seat to face the male.

"Levy McGarden, silly. I do your English homework sometimes."

"English had always been a funny subject."

"Really? How?"

"So many different rules," Natsu explained, his shoulders heaving into a shrug. The female cracked out a small smile and adjusted the headband atop her forehead.

"On a date with the cat?"

"_Happy_," The male said in a matter-of-factly voice.

"Right. On a date?"

"Casual night out. I don't think Happy is looking for a relationship right now," Levy giggled in response and Natsu smile etched its way up. His wolf-like fangs we beginning to show. Maybe talking to Keys had put him back in the running of being able to communicate with society.

{…}

Levy had moved to Natsu's table and they chatted for a little while, exchanging casual banter and asking non-personal questions, like favourite colours and birthday dates. The male had noticed that Levy was a lot like Lucy, only Lucy was prettier, but that was just his opinion and he was fairly sure that someone out their believed that Levy was too very pretty, but Natsu himself couldn't see it. He saw the general good looks but nobody matched Lucy, and he realised no one was going to be able to rival her.

"Wait, wait," Natsu began, gripping his knife and fork in his hand and leaning towards the female, his eyebrows creasing together in concentration. "Stop me if you've heard this one: What building has the most stories?"

"Hm…"

"The Library. Because it has lots of _stories_," Natsu leant forward and burst out laughing at his own joke.

Levy's face scrunched up into a ball, her cheeks puffing out in a weak attempt to contain the laughter bubbling inside her. Giving in, she quickly paced her head on the table in laughed abnormally loud, earning vicious stares from the few people around them, the two dismissing the stares and being as carefree as they could be. "That one was bad."

"But you're laughing!" Natsu retorted, noticing a light red tint on the female's cheeks from laughing too hard.

"Lu-chan would love your jokes," the female mused, placing her cutlery down onto the table.

"Lu-chan?"

"Ah – Lucy. Heartfilia. Friend of mine."

Natsu raised his eyebrows in innocent curiousness. So this was the 'friend' that Keys had mentioned. He carefully crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back into his chair, looking over to his other companion, Happy, for advice. The cat gave a seemingly thoughtful look and Natsu shrugged at it. Incredibly small world he lived in. "We might have to go soon," the male began, tugging his phone out of his jacket pocket and nonchalantly clicking it on. "It's almost eleven. Place closes at midnight."

"Hm. Alright," Levy replied, grabbing the napkin placed neatly on her lap and wiping her lips.

Natsu scrunched his eyebrows together and stifled a yawn, tapping Happy on the shoulder to signal that they were leaving. "Tell me… more about Lucy," after realising what he had mentioned, Natsu stopped in his tracks. "If you want, 'course."

Another giggle erupted from Levy's lips. "Why?"

The salmon-haired male almost tripped onto the table, a large blush tainting his cheeks, making the scene funnier than it was before. And the thing was, Natsu _never _blushed. "I-II mean, s-she likes my jokes, so," Natsu sucked in a quick breath, "I should get to know this person that enjoys my jokes. Not very many people appreciate its brilliance."

"Well, okay. Wait – aren't you her history partner?"

Natsu's blush managed to crawl its way into his hairline. "Yeah, and that too."

Another giggle. "Sure. Um, she really likes to read."

"Does she?"

"Very much. She's writing a book herself,"

"What's it about?"

"I'm not allowed to tell anybody," Levy confirmed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Aww. Why not?"

"Because. Secret,"

"How disappointing."

"Anything else you want to know?"

_Does she have a secret second-life online_? Natsu almost desperately wanted to ask, but he himself knew that it would be very stupid to. "Does… does she talk about me?"

"Well…"

"Ah, don't leave me hanging!"

"She does," Levy giggled again for the third time that hour, noticing Natsu's gaping look. "True."

"Were you meant to tell me this?"

"Probably not."

"You're a bad friend."

"You're the one that asked!"

"I didn't force you to answer!"

"It looked like you were going to." He was probably going to.

The trio walked out of the building, quietly thanking Mirajane for the meal and leaving a heavy tip, the two animatedly chatting about Lucy, Levy seeing the male had a strong and transparent interest for Lucy, feeding his fuel by telling his not-so revealing facts, but keeping his interest enough.

"Pfft, you're lying about that," a smug look entered Natsu's face as he casually crossed his arms over his chest. Happy shuffled in Levy's arms, having a look of heavy fatigue. "I know, Happy, just… wait, we're almost home."

"Yeah. Not kidding. She lives in a _huge _estate and it's like a mini-freaking-town."

"She called my house big…"

"I can imagine it's pretty big. Your dad is a CEO, right?"

"Yeah. But the company isn't very popular. We have enough status to earn a large income and a respective amount of social status, but it's not something you would recognize without explaining. Unlike Lucy's company."

"I guess. I don't know why she doesn't like to talk about it though, she would be so much more popular if she did," Levy mentioned, shrugging.

"Maybe you should ask her about it."

"Maybe _you _should."

"Touchè."

"But you really like her, don't you?"

"_WAIT WHAT_?" Another blush. Natsu found that his blushing was getting seriously out of control. Was it this healthy to have so much blood rush up to his head in such a limited amount of time?

"Confirmed."

"Sh-shut up."

"I can be your female wingman. Wingwoman," the female fantasized, giggling.

"I don't like her, and you're extremely stupid. I hope you understand that," a childish pout formed on the male's lips. Another giggle.

* * *

><p><strong>I feel as if I should be sorry for just ending it there, but I'm not. This is the longest chapter yet, kids! I think I might make a 5,000 word one next! Constructive criticism is always healthy - do don't forget to review! <strong>


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